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Falling fuel prices are not enough, say RAC

Author/Source: Robin Roberts

5th December 2018

November saw largest petrol price drop in four years – but retailers still didn’t cut far enough, says the RAC.

In Wales the monthly drop was just over 5pp litre down to 124.73ppl, tenth out of 12 parts of the UK which recorded decreases.

The price of petrol fell by more than 5p per litre in November, the biggest monthly drop since January 2015 and the first major price reduction since June as retailers finally reacted to falling wholesale prices.

Data from RAC Fuel Watch shows unleaded fell from 130.61p to 125.43p (down 5.18p) in November and diesel dropped 2.5p from 136.93p to 134.42p.

Oil plummets by 24% to $57 a barrel while retailers take record margins on unleaded

Petrol price should still fall by around 7p if wholesale prices are fairly reflected

Yet motorway diesel reaches matches record of April 2012 at high point of 155.40p.

Petrol at the end of November was back to a price last seen in mid-May whereas diesel went back to its end of September level. Despite the positive news at the pumps the RAC’s analysis of wholesale fuel prices shows drivers have been overcharged on the forecourt to the tune of 10p a litre for unleaded and 7p for diesel, and average prices should still fall considerably over the course of the next fortnight if retailers play fair.

RAC fuel spokesperson Simon Williams said, “The oil price plummeted by 24% throughout November which proved to be positive for motorists – indeed we haven’t seen such a large drop in average prices in nearly four years. Having finished October at $75, a barrel of crude ended the month only costing $57** which sent wholesale prices tumbling even though the value of sterling dropped by 2%.

“This should have translated to the average price of petrol being around 120p a litre, but retailers chose not to pass on the savings meaning the current average still remains unnecessarily high at 125.43p. While one of the big four supermarkets has consistently cut the price of unleaded the others haven’t by as much which has meant the UK average price didn’t drop as much as it should have done.

“Based on our data, petrol still ought to come down by 7p a litre in the next two weeks and diesel by 5p. While this seems unlikely based on retailers’ current track record, we can only hope they are planning some cuts in the run-up to Christmas with a view to getting more shoppers into their stores.